First Feature competition - short review - B FOR BOY by Chika Anadu

Set in Nigeria, this is the story a pregnant woman approaching her fortieth birthday. Because this will probably be her last chance at having a baby, she desperately needs it to be a boy due to cultural and religious pressures that might break up her whole family. B for Boy offers insight into another culture and into an issue that is perhaps not discussed much about on this side of the world. It also represents the best side of Nollywood, which aims to bring the dilemmas of the modern African population to the screen. Anadu’s film is a very powerful and brave examination of Nigerian culture and the discrimination that is suffered by women as a result of a remaining retrograde cultural mentality. This intimate domestic drama really lets the desperation and frustration of the situation sink in with the viewer through an unhurried and yet intense pace. The performances by the cast enhance the film’s emotional depth of this film, which despite its occasional ruggedness and imperfection, is quite remarkable and certainly accessible to a broader international audience